Thread by @Chxta

As long as there is no foundation of justice in #Nigeria, all kinds of agitation will continue. Essentially, we are all Biafrans...

link.medium.com/iDNmCkteU6

53 years ago today, the military governor of the Eastern Region of #Nigeria, Colonel Emeka Ojukwu, declared the region as the independent Republic of #Biafra.

Most of the existing history will tell you that he took this action unilaterally, but that is incorrect.

4 days earlier, a consultative assembly made up of people in the 11 provinces of the Eastern region had by a majority voted to break away from #Nigeria following @NigeriaGov's reneging on the Aburi Accord of 5/1/1967, and the creation of 3 states out of the East on 5/5/1967.

Following #Biafra's failure to secure the support of Ahidjo's #Cameroun, and the split of the Eastern minorities from the rest of the East by the brilliant tactical move of state creation, the fate of Biafra was sealed.

These happened even before a shot was fired.

#Biafra was a short-lived republic, eventually dying on 15 January 1970, and being reabsorbed into #Nigeria after a violent war which lasted for 30 months and claimed anywhere between a million and 3 million lives.

On the African continent, only the Second Congo War which lasted from 1998 to 2003 claimed more lives.

In terms of geographic spread, the Biafra War, especially as a result of the Biafran invasion of the Midwest region, affected only the old Southern Protectorate (today's South-East and South-South geopolitical zones).

There was a Biafran bombing raid on Lagos on 2/7/1967 which killed 4 people, and another on 7/10/1967 where the plane was shot down.

There was also a massacre of 30 Hausa civilians by Biafran troops at Okene on 13/8/1967.

These 3 were the summary of d war outside of the SE/SS.

The bulk of proper military action was fought between June 1967 and March 1968, and then in the last 3 months of 1969.

The majority of the war was a blockade which led to what is still the worst case of deliberately imposed mass starvation in Africa, costing 2 million lives.

Yes, the bulk of the people who died in #Biafra were not killed by bullets, but starved to death.

Eventually, the young country tottered and collapsed, and was reabsorbed into #Nigeria.

To the eternal credit of Yakubu Gowon, the mass killings that Igbos had feared did not happen, and while until today the Igbo people are treated with mistrust in #Nigeria and have never been fully reintegrated, Mr Gowon's example of reconciliation and forgiveness is a beacon.

So, why do we still have cries for #Biafra today, despite the fact that the geopolitical factors that doomed that republic (no support from #Cameroun to the East, and no support from the ethnic minorities of the old Eastern region) still exist?

We still have these cries because #Nigeria has failed to win the argument.

Nigeria has failed to dispassionately study the problems and missteps that led to secession in 1967 with a view to not repeating them.

#Nigeria has failed to acknowledge a major historical wrong in which an entire ethnic group was punished for the perceived sins of some of its sons.

Nigeria has failed to bring justice for the grand theft that was the £20 settlement and the abandoned properties fiasco.

These issues have let a wound to fester.

But, from my perspective, and #Nigeria keeps repeating this, Nigeria has refused to let justice prevail.

This lack of bringing people to book has become a Nigerian habit that has permeated all conflicts around the country.

We "settle" among the big men who have either committed, or financed great crime, and the little man is left broken and bitter, to pass on this bitterness to his children.

That, is the story of #Nigeria.
That is the story of #Biafra.

Many would say #Ozoemena, Igbo for "may it not happen again", but as long as #Nigeria refuses to acknowledge, even if just for the records, mass killings in Asaba, Onitsha, Ugep, Umuechem, Kano, Bakolori, Bauchi, Zango Kataf, Odi, Kaduna, Jos, Yelwa, Shendam, Maiduguri,...

...Ogaminana, Potiskum, Wudil, Damaturu, Madalla, Okene, Kaduna, Zaria, Baga, Mamudo, Buni Yadi, Gwoza, Aba, Kajuru, and put a permanent black stain on the names of the perpetrators of these mass killings, we'll always have the bitterness that leads to more people wanting out.

Let #BiafraRemembranceDay provide a chance for Nigerians everywhere to seek for justice for all Nigerians.

As long as we live in a country built on injustice, to quote @conumah, we are all Biafrans.

While I say #Ozoemena, I also say that the foundation of a lasting peace is justice.